“Jeese.”

Jesso lit a cigarette and offered the pack to Murph. Murph didn’t want one.

“I oughta tell you, Jackie. Gluck wants to see you right off.”

“Take the parkway”

“Jeese, Jackie. Gluck’s the boss!”

“You know what he can do?”

“Heh. Just this morning he said the same about you.”

Jesso leaned back and tried laughing, but he didn’t really feel it. Gluck wasn’t going to be laughed off. Gluck was still the boss.

“So let’s have it, Murph. What’s his beef this time?”

“His beef? Nothing. Just you. Like always.”

Jesso curled his mouth under, as if he wanted to give his face a stretch. “Like always, like always. How long’s that bastard been in? A month, two months? That’s always? You know how long I been here, Murph?”

“Sure. You been-”

“From the beginning! And no trouble all along the line. A neat little setup, right here, and nobody big enough to buck it.”

“It sure was neat, Jackie. Remember when Delancy tried to muscle in, and-“

“Delancy was small time. We were big enough for the syndicate to want a piece.” Jesso sat chewing his lip, thinking about the time the syndicate wanted a piece. They could use a man with his local connections, they said, a man as big as he was and all on his own. They gave him a wire service and they asked him how to handle local problems. Sometimes he told them. Most of the time he just got things done the way he knew how, fast, no fuss, no ass-kissing, and nobody left to ask any questions. They liked that and Jesso went his own way. And then one day he saw how big the organization had got, bigger than one man, bigger than Jesso. They were sweet as pudding when he found that out. They were so sweet they sent him a man to help with the details, because big time needs big-time organization, they said. It needs the individual touch-and that was Jack Jesso. It needs a smooth-looking front-and that was Gluck. And when they trimmed up the whole big beautiful setup, with wire service, numbers, and a piece of the water front all tucked in neat little pigeonholes, with dummy companies and tie-ups to the Coast and hell knows where else making a net like a spider, then Gluck was in and Jesso was out. “We need you,” Gluck said, “but now do it my way.” He didn’t say “or else.” He was too oily for that.